Texas Gov. Greg Abbott fell victim to the oldest trick in the book over the weekend when he mistook a satirical website, the Dunning-Kruger Times, as real news, leading to him sharing what he thought was a real story but was actually fake news.
The article he shared alleged that country music singer Garth Brooks was booed off the stage at the 123rd Annual Texas Country Jamboree in Hambriston, Texas.
Brooks has only recently been called out for being “woke,” and seeing that he was being booed off stage was all Abbott needed to press send.
“Go woke. Go broke,” Abbott tweeted. “Good job, Texas.”
However, Abbott didn’t receive the response he was hoping for, as the singer was never booed off stage because the event and city aren’t real, something that the governor missed.
It also bears mentioning that Brooks is well-loved in the state, as he sold out both the 72,000-seat NRG Stadium in Houston and the 80,000-seat AT&T Stadium in Arlington just last year.
Still, Abbott shared the story from the Dunning-Kruger Times, despite the site stating that it was part of “a network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery” and that “If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined.”
Abbott has since backtracked, deleting the tweet but offering no other remarks on his spreading of fake news.
However, as our moms have always told us, everything we do online stays there, as several people screenshotted the tweet and reshared it online, including Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), who called out Abbott.
“[Gov. Abbott] just accidentally posted a satire article because he wants to hate on queer Texans and Garth Brooks so bad,” Casar tweeted. “The Texas Country Jamboree doesn’t exist. Hambriston, Texas is not real. And the Governor is not fit to tweet, much less govern.”
Several other Texans took the chance to pile on Abbott for his missed shot at the country music star.
Brooks has never been overtly supportive of one political ideology or the other. Last month he was asked about his new bar in Nashville and whether or not he would serve Bud Light after its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. He responded, saying he would serve “every brand” of beer.
“I want it to be a place you feel safe in, I want it to be a place where you feel like there are manners and people like one another,” Brooks told Billboard in an interview. “Our thing is this: If you [are let] into this house, love one another. If you’re an a―hole, there are plenty of other places on lower Broadway.”
Related
Related
